Tickles
by SimplenSweet
Summary: Kairi has been best friends with Sora and Riku for as long as she can remember. Will some simple flirting with one of them change that? Ok, summary sucks. KairiRiku, and slight RoxasNaminé. Teen for later chapters. Very fluffy.
1. Changed Over the Years

Helllo This is going to be my third story here, and it's going to be a Riku/Kairi (I can't help my obsession, I'm sorry.) Even if you don't like this pairing, I hope that you can keep an open mind while reading this, and just enjoy the actual story. Let's see... umm, facts for the story would be: Sora and Riku are brothers, Sora and Kairi are 15, Riku's 17, uhh... idk. That's kinda it for now, and you can ask something in a review if you need me to explain something, but it shouldn't be necessary. This is taking huge chunks out of my own life, actually, so it's not that hard to write, and more fun for me :P. Anyway, enjoy the story!

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not own Kingdom Hearts or its characters. They belong to Square Enix and Disney.

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**Chapter 1: Changed Over the Years**

"Hey Kairi." Riku's face glowed as he said her name. He hoped she didn't notice.

"Hey Riku." Kairi's face turned a bright red as she said his name. She hoped he didn't notice.

The two walked by each other in the busy hallway; Riku trying to make a path while Kairi's petite frame was forced to be swept along wherever everyone else was headed. Riku, realizing this, immediately grabbed her small hand and pulled her into an empty classroom.

"We almost lost ya there, Kai," Riku chuckled slightly as the younger girl tried to catch her breath. "Easy for you to laugh. You're not the one getting run over just trying to get to class." Kairi stuck her tongue out to show she was kidding, and Riku took that chance to tickle her.

Tickling. Kairi's one weakness. Especially when _he_ did it to her. As soon as she felt his fingers grab for her stomach Kairi began her pathetic attempt to escape by squirming and squealing fitfully, which is what she always had to resort to.

"Ri...Riku! You know I hate being tickled!" This wasn't exactly true, since she didn't mind it when he did it. "Oh come on Kairi, you know you love it." Riku's cheesy smile had taken over his face, which made Kairi's face turn even darker red. It could have exploded at any second due to the tickling, the laughing, and the blush that graced her cheeks.

Finally, after Kairi falling to the floor and Riku following her with his nudging digits, a teacher walked into the no longer empty classroom and gave them a strange and quizickle look. More blushing cheeks appeared as the two embarrassed teens exited the room, hearing the late bell ring irritatingly.

"Uh, yea, I'll see ya later Kairi." Riku scratched his head a bit as he took off one way down the hall and flashed her a mesmerizing grin.

"Yeah," Was all Kairi could manage to squeak out as she took to the other direction. 'Jell-O' would be one way to describe the feeling in her body at the moment.

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"Hey Dad." Kairi tossed her heavy school bag onto her living room couch with a little effort as she addressed her father, who had just gotten home from work. "Hey Baby Girl."

Kairi scooted into the kitchen towards her refridgerator after having recieved a kiss on her forehead from her father. Opening the door to look for something to eat, she looked back at his face when she heard him make his distinct "hmm" sound; the one that he saved for cases that made him a bit uncomfortable. Kairi could tell it from his regular "hmm" because he furrowed his eyebrows in a way that almost made her laugh.

"Hey Kairi, it's okay if Sora and Riku's family come over for Fourth of July, isn't it?" Kairi's cheeks suddenly turned a bit pinkish against her will, but then she got to wondering: why would that be wierd for them to come over? She hopped up on the counter as she lost herself in her own thoughts.

Sora and Riku's family and Kairi's family had always been friends. They'd have parties together when they were little, those two were even Kairi's first friends. Sora had also been Kairi's first crush, but she had never let that slip to anyone before. Of course, when they were little, Riku had always scared her a bit.

He and Sora would always fight and compete, and sometimes they might even get violent evey now and again. Sora being more friendly towards Kairi, would always try and keep her out of Riku's way if he did get mad, cause he did have quite the temper. The reason Kairi was scared of Riku, was because sometimes if she didn't get out of the way, or tried to break them up, she would get thrown aside rather (ahem) roughly.

Anyway, over the years, Riku had grown out of his "aggression stage" as his mother called it, and he and Kairi became as close as she and Sora were. And even though she'd never admit to it, she loved having over protective "brothers" always by her side.

"Kairi? Hello?" Kairi snapped out of her thoughts as she turned to face her father with a dazed look on her face. She hoped her face wasn't still red. "That's alright, right?"

Kairi jumped down from her perch on the kitchen counter and headed towards her room to collect herself. "Yeah Dad, no problem."

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Yay I finally finished. That took me forever for some reason o.O Anyway, I know it's kinda wierd, or atleast it seems like it to me, but please R&R! I luuuuuuuuv feedback! And let me know where I should go in the next chapter. Thanx u muchly.

SimplenSweet


	2. Princess Kairi

Hello, second chapter is up, and this one has a lil more romantic Kairi/Riku stuff, and I'm also introducing Sora and Naminé in here, too. I think that Naminé is a little OOC in here, but w/e. Anyway, I want to thank everyone who reviewed, because it helped me write this chapter. Now on with the story. :D

Disclaimer: I own neither the story nor the characters of KH. They belong to Square Enix and Disney.

Chapter 2:Princess Kairi

"Who was the last girlfriend you had, Sora?" Riku found himself pacing the room that he and his younger brother shared. Reaching for the switch of his lamp in order to give away his unwanted extra energy, he instead recoiled his hand as he received a slight shock. That's what he got for walking the carpet with socks.

"I dunno. Naminé I guess." Obviously Sora was not in the mood for talking, and Riku should've known. The chocolate haired boy had one pencil in his hand, another behind his ear, and a third in his mouth. He chewed while trying to concentrate on his term paper, though was getting more and more annoyed by the presence of his older brother.

"How could you tell... when it was time to, ya know, ask her out?" Despite the fact that Sora and Riku were brothers as well as best friends, Riku had always been the cool one, and Sora had always asked all the stupid questions. Maybe that was why he suddenly felt his face heat up, as a siren went off in his head as a signal to his idiotic question and the impending doom and torture he would have to endure from his little brother.

Though the pencils behind his ear and held in his grasp stayed motionless, the pencil from Sora's mouth dropped to the bed covers as his mouth gaped open. "Since when would you _ever_ ask advice from me? And on what? _Girls?_" Sora could not help himself as he let the remaining pencils drop as he turned himself over onto his back and began chuckling madly. His mood had obviously changed.

Riku could feel the temperature in his cheeks rise even more, and mentally slapped himself for not being fast enough to catch the act of stupidity. "Since now, Sora. Come on."

"Well, let's see..." Riku could see that Sora was still trying very hard not to burst out laughing for the sake of his brother's pride, which he appreciated very much. "It was probably after we'd hooked up a few times." This statement was accompanied by Sora's signature cheesy grin, which Riku didn't appreciate so much. He was trying to be serious here, and Sora was just taking it all in as a huge joke. Well, what did he expect from him exactly?

"Fine then. How could you tell when it was time to move onto that step?" Surprisingly, Riku was feeling a little bit more confident about talking with his brother about this stuff. Riku had certainly been with girls. Oh, that he had. But girls like Kairi were different. She didn't just throw herself at him; he actually had to work for her. He had guessed that Naminé was also this type of girl.

"Jeez Riku, I dunno about all these 'intimate and personal' questions. Who could be so hard for you to get?" Sora really was curious, as Riku had never had problems in this department before. Why should he now?

Riku let out a heavy sigh as he lay down on his own bed looking up towards the ceiling. A sigh of disappointment. "It's nobody. Never mind." After only lying on his bed for a moment, Riku sat up again and exited through the door into the hallway, letting the door swing loosely behind him.

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"Hey Kairi." Naminé brushed by a group of gossiping girls as she made her way towards her best friend. Short blonde hair fluttered behind her, but some still remained on her shoulders, causing the straps of her favorite white dress to be somewhat covered. She beamed as she approached her target.

"Hey." Kairi tilted her head to the side slightly and giggled as she grabbed her bag and rose from her cross-legged position on one of the schools hallway benches. Standing up, she ruffled her own favorite pink dress slightly to even it out. Bowing deeply, she joked, "How is the fair princess holding up?"

Naminé, returning the giggle, bowed down right back. "Very well my loyal subject."

"I would've thought Kairi would be the princess."

Both Kairi and Naminé turned to see Riku, standing a few feet away with a charming smile on his gorgeous face. Both blushed, but Kairi's was a deep, deep red, and she had to turn to hide it while Naminé defended her crown. "Hey, why am I not princess material? Huh? HUH?" Naminé shoved her face up towards Riku's and aimed her finger almost up his nose.

Riku, stepping back at this, placed his hand over the blonde's face to hold her back. Dodging her wild swings, he thought how un-Naminé this behavior seemed to him. Oh well. His thoughts drifted back to Kairi as he watched her turn to face the two again after her cheeks had cooled.

Her eyes. They were the most brilliant shade of blue. Or were they a sort of indigo? He couldn't even tell. All he knew was that he suddenly became lost in them, which was not necessarily a good thing at the time, as he was immediately hit with a spastic fist right in the nose.

Bending over, Riku shrunk down to the level of the two girls, both of which had their hands over their mouths in horror. Naminé did however manage a giggle to escape. Taking a hand away from his nose, he realized that it was bleeding and he immediately returned the hand and grimaced.

Kairi automatically touched his arm lightly as she saw this flinch, though she wished she hadn't, as his eyes immediately flew to hers. She then turned her eyes downward as she heard the bell ring, signaling that they would be late. "Go ahead Naminé, I'll take him to the nurse."

What was she doing? Kairi mentally and almost physically kicked herself and immediately resorted to blushing madly again. Naminé had turned to leave with a hurried 'Sorry' as she ran down the almost deserted halls. "Thanks, Kai."

Spinning to face him, Kairi suddenly smacked her face right into his chest. She hadn't realized he had been that close. _Oh God I am going to die of embarrassment. _Kairi was about to back away from him, but Riku grabbed her shoulders and stopped her. She tilted her head up towards his. "We really should get you to the nurse. You've got blood on your shirt."

_Great Kairi, how romantic._ As she silently cursed herself, Riku took his hands from her small shoulders and held them to his face again. "Ah, you're right, Kairi. I'm sorry." He said this all through a muffled and hurried voice as he began walking in the opposite direction to which Naminé had gone.

Remembering a tissue she had stuffed in her pocket, Kairi pulled it out and hurried up to Riku to hand it to him. He looked down on her with what she knew to be hurt in his eyes, though she didn't know why. As soon as she had given him the tissue, Riku had increased his pace and had left Kairi to straggle along behind, without so much as a thank you.

She could feel tears threatening, but held them as she followed like abeaten dog follows its master. She didn't know what she had done.

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Okay, and that's the end of that chapter. I finished it today cause I stayed home from school, but I'm too lazy at the moment to change the weird P.O.V. angles in this chapter. Sorry in advance to those who may be a lil confused by this or just annoyed by it, I just wanted to get this out today. Thank you to everyone who reviewed, this chapter is for you, and I'dreally appreciate more R&R for this one, too, please . I dunno when I'll finish the next chapter, but if you review I'll send you a message and tell you the progress. Thanks again.

SimplenSweet


	3. The Invitation

Hey guys, sorry this took so long to update, or so long for me, anyway. I have been way too busy with the end of school, so I hope by summer I'll be able to update more frequently. And more apologies, I haven't even responded to reviews, which is horrible for me, so I wanna dedicate this crappy chapter to all of the people who reviewed chapter 2. Thank you guys oh so much, and sorry about the wait and the nonresponsive on my part. Hope you like this chapter, though it's kinda just a filler. Toodles :D

Disclaimer: I own neither the story nor the characters of KH. They belong to Square Enix and Disney.

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Chapter 3: The Invitation

"Oh my, what happened heey?"

The eccentric young nurse ran straight for Riku as soon as she laid eyes on him. Snatching a tissue box along the way, she dug some out and immediately started going at his nose, though oddly not hurting Riku at all.

With one hand she seized the used tissue that Kairi had given him and tossed it into the nearby trashcan, while with the other she continued with her full frontal assault on Riku's poor nose.

Kairi found herself sitting on one of the extremely uncomfortable beds provided in the nurse's office, away from the two. The office was completely empty except for them, but for some reason Kairi felt more uncomfortable because of it. She allowed her eyes to glance over towards Riku, who let his arms dangle helplessly at his sides, accompanied by a sort of half shocked, half scared look on his face.

She quickly turned her head away. She found that she couldn't look at him. She wouldn't allow herself that. What with him, just standing there, still the boy she had grown up with, and looking just as amazing as always, even with the bloody nose. She just... couldn't. And now he was mad at her, or lost interest in her in mere seconds. Wait a minute, since when had he ever been interested in her in the first place? Kairi silently scolded herself for being so conceited.

Meanwhile, Riku felt himself to be almost on the brink of tears, as he did not like having his nose fiddled with after being punched in the face, as few would. He held back that feeling though, as Kairi was in the room, and he wouldn't allow himself to look weak in front of her, or he might just lose all of her respect. He furrowed his eyebrows in thought.

Riku had really been torturing himself during the long walk down the halls. The simple push away from him may have meant nothing; maybe he was taking that one simple action way too seriously. That's it: he was overreacting.

Riku now found himself glancing over towards Kairi's direction, and his eyebrows were now knitted with worry. She stood staring out the window, at what, he wasn't sure, but for some reason, he wanted to know 'at what' more than anything at that moment. She looked so... peaceful, yet at the same time, she looked lost and almost... unsure of herself. The boy didn't quite know what expression was painted on the young girl's face at the moment. He had always found her somewhat mysterious, and now more than ever.

While Riku was getting lost in her eyes, Kairi turned to face him, just to sneak another peek to see if he was still... mad at her. She hated saying that to herself. She didn't think she could go on living if _he_ hated her. And then she saw him staring straight into her eyes.

_Oh crap. _Riku could feel his aquamarine eyes bulge in his sockets as he realized that he had been caught. Trying to quickly find an excuse he could hide behind, Riku quickly pulled something out of his ass. "Kairi, there's a huge bug in your hair!"

_Wow, _real_ smooth big guy. That was the best excuse you could think of? What the fuck is wrong with me? _Although Riku was beating himself up inside, he found himself almost letting out a small laugh as Kairi's own eyes bulged as she shot up from her seat and her hands immediately flew to her hair. "Riku, get it OUT! GET IT OUT!"

Riku almost jumped out of his skin at Kairi's sudden explosion and ran behind her as he ran his hands through her hair and picked out an imaginary bug and pretended to flick said imaginary bug into the trashcan. He couldn't help noticing, however short a time his hands had been there, that her hair was incredibly soft. He hoped that she hadn't noticed the extra half of a second that his hands had lingered on top of her head.

"It's okay Kairi. It's gone." Riku suddenly felt a chill run down his spine as he said this. Looking over towards the only window in the dark office, he realized that it was closed, and he must have just imagined the draft, like he had the bug in Kairi's hair. Beautiful hair. Riku shivered again as he felt the chill return.

"Thanks," was all that Kairi could manage out of her mouth as she felt her face with her hands and realized how hot it was, both from the bug episode and from Riku 'saving' her. Turning away she felt a slight tinge of embarrassment, but it was more so than usual. Maybe it was the unusual amount of tension. She figured this was it, as it seemed almost palpable as silence echoed through the room.

The awkward silence was interrupted however by the antsy nurse, who had rushed out seconds earlier unbeknownst to the two teens, and she now scurried across the scratched and worn looking floor, her heels clicking gallingly all the way. "I heard yellin, what happened in heey?" **(Hehe I luv my accent :P)**

Kairi couldn't help but be a bit annoyed by the woman's tell-tale Boston accent, but let it slide as she again blushed. "I, uh... I had a bug in my hair." Sliding her foot back and forth across the ground, Kairi found herself looking down at her black laced shoes and suddenly realized just how fascinating her toes were.

"Oh, well if that's all." The woman bustled right out of the room again and Kairi saw her make her way speedily down the hall. The small girl felt suddenly very lightheaded and took a seat once again on the rock hard bed, holding her forehead. At this, she watched as Riku's eyes took on a concerned look and he sat down next to her. "What's wrong?"

Kairi shifted her feet a bit uncomfortably as she spoke. "Nothing. It's just... I thought you were mad at me. Never mind, I'm being stupid." At the end of her oration, she looked down once again to her shoes to hide her eyes. "I'm not mad at you, you know."

At this Kairi lifted her head. She felt he had been reading her mind, and had said exactly what she had wanted; though she wasn't sure how truthful he had been about the statement. She slowly raised her eyes to his daringly, and immediately knew that he was sincere: she had nothing to worry about. Nothing at all. Except that awful bloody nose.

"Here, let me get you another tissue." Scurrying across the room, the girl found herself stop suddenly. _If he's not mad at me, then why was he blocking me out earlier? _Kairi didn't think that she could openly voice these thoughts without making a complete fool of herself, so she continued on her search for the tissue box, dissatisfied with herself.

"Where the hell did that tissue box go?" Kairi was starting to work herself up over this stupid little thing, and she didn't know why. _Oh my God what am I doing? It's a stupid tissue box, what am I really mad about? _

"Kairi?"

"What?"

"Uh, you've got it in your hand, there." **(Grrr I do that all the time haha ) **Riku looked slightly scared at Kairi's reaction, but smiled in a playful way all the same. He watched as Kairi looked at her left hand and to her annoyance it was indeed sitting in her palm. The box was not in perfect condition, however, as Kairi had taken to squeezing it tightly in agitation during her hunt. Her rather aggressive look fell from her face and an embarrassed one took its place. "...Oh."

Blushing furiously, Kairi stuck the damaged box of tissues out to Riku while turning her face away to hide it from him. While Riku mopped his nose up, Kairi remembered something, and didn't take the time to think about it before blurting it out.

"Oh yeah, you wanna come over for Fourth of July?" As soon as the words flew out of her mouth, she immediately wanted to herd them back in. "Uhh, I mean, you and your, uh, family. Ya know, Sora and... stuff."

"Course Kairi." Kairi felt the corners of her lips lift into a smile, mirroring Riku's. "And I'll even bring my family, if you really want." Feigning disappointment, Riku let out an exaggerated sigh as he dropped the poor tissue box on the nearby table and held out his hand for Kairi in a sort of bow out the door. As Kairi gave a small curtsy, smiling, she took the invitation and turned to leave.

Only to be assaulted by Riku's fingers along her sides. She should never trust a gentleman.

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Awww the poor tissue box :( okay, okay, I know that chapter was completely pointless and took a really long time to get out, but hey, at least it's longer, right :P Please R&R, and I'll _try_ and respond. Keyword being 'try'. You can also tell me your opinions on what you think should happen, as I like to use reader input. Thank you, and I'll try and get the next chappie out sooner for you guys.

SimplenSweet


	4. Will You

Hello, fourth chapter up, and this one is loooong. At least by my standards, anyway. I wrote the beginning of this a couple weeks ago I think, and the second half just finished tonight (6/9/06). I'm sorry if there are a bunch of mistakes in the first part, or something seems to not fit in there, but I kinda just really want to get this chap out there as it's taken me such a long time. Please feel free to tell me if I've messed up on grammar, parts of the story that don't make sense, etc. I know, I _am _incredibly lazy. Anyway, here's the next chapter, with all 2,352 of those words. Enjoy, or try to.

Disclaimer: I own neither the story nor the characters of KH. They belong to Square Enix and Disney.

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Chapter 4: Will You…

Kairi breathed in deeply as the warm air swept across her face and took her hair with it. Her lips slowly spread into a smile as it gently played with her features. It was spring. And not just 'The end of winter, beginning of spring'; the season was full blown, as they had already approached May.

Kairi had always loved rowing back over to the little island that they played on when they were kids, and actually still took to playing on even now. She breathed another heavy sigh, but held it as she heard light footsteps crunching in the sand behind her. She whipped her head around in surprise.

"R...Riku!" Kairi's eyes went wide as she found just who had walked up behind her.

"Don't tell me I scared you?" Riku's own eyes seemed to dance playfully before Kairi's as he suppressed the urge to let out a laugh.

As Kairi turned back around, Riku took that opportunity to grip her shoulders tightly with his hands at lightning speed, causing the girl to jump right up and hit her head on his chin.

"Oooooowww." Riku grunted exaggeratedly, as he rubbed the bottom of his chin while Kairi did the same with the top of her head. The girl however, did so with much less complaining.

"Hey, it's your fault you scared me." Kairi followed this up with a face; sticking her tongue out at him. The older boy returned the gesture, though looked a bit more ridiculous in doing so.

Kairi lifted herself up with her hands pushing off from Riku's favorite paopu tree and jumped to the ground, not knowing that the boy's eyes were on her the entire time. She traced her black sandals in the sand, just barely using the tips of her toes. "So what brings you here? Other than your pathetic plan to scare me."

Riku turned his glance towards the ground as soon as Kairi turned her head in fear of being caught and answered her in a sort of rushed mumble. "Well, I came to ask you to prom, of course!"

Kairi raised her head at this in a quizzical manner, and Riku switched his approach.

"Oh, I dunno. I just never come out here anymore. I thought it'd be nice, ya know, to see the place again."

"That's right, you haven't been in years, have you?" Kairi's expression changed to one of complete happiness to one of thoughtfulness. "You thought you were to old for it."

Kairi raised her hands to her lips to hide her growing smile that had replaced her doubtful look. "You'll never be too old for this island."

Letting out an extremely charming grin that Kairi didn't fail to miss, Riku brushed his silver locks back with his rough hands. "It's only May, I can't wait till summer. I'm gunna be over your house everyday, it'll be like I'm stalking you."

As Riku's grin increased, Kairi couldn't help but falter at this. She couldn't help feeling stupid for some reason. No matter what he said, Kairi knew that Riku would never come and see her everyday. He always said stuff like this, but that didn't mean he meant it. It also brought up a rather annoying, nagging part of her brain that kept reminding her that she had invited Riku over:_ Two months_ in advance. Okay, her feelings of stupidity towards herself were complete.

"Hey Kai, you okay?" Kairi looked up and realized that Riku's humorous grin had changed to a more concerned look at her lack of an answer.

"Yeah, sorry. I think I just zoned out for a minute, there. And stop waving your hand in front of my face!"

"Well, I wasn't sure if you'd gone into shock or something at the thought of me stalking you."

"Please, don't flatter yourself."

The playful banter was accompanied by some swatting of Kairi's hand at Riku's ego (in other words, his head), and Riku holding his own hands up in mock defense.

"Please don't hurt me! I'm sowwy." The laugh that Riku had plastered onto his face was replaced with a very pathetic excuse for puppy dog eyes, and he stuck his lower lip out to try and help his defense. He even got it to quiver a bit, which made Kairi burst into laughter.

"Riku, you really need to work on that. I-" Kairi was cut off as the sound of her phone rang out from her purse lying forgotten beside the two.

Riku let down his pouting face while he watched in curiosity as Kairi answered her cell.

"Hello?"

Some excited mumbling sounds were heard on the other end, and Riku strained his ears to eavesdrop on Kairi's conversation.

"Really? Oh Nam, that's great!"

The boy couldn't help grinning slightly to himself. He loved watching her smile...

"Sure, I'll be right there. No, tell me the details when I get there. Yes you _can_ wait. See you in a few."

A loud click signaled that Kairi had hung up on her best friend and so Riku took the opportunity to bug her.

Poking the girl lightly, yet annoyingly, Riku asked, "So what'd Naminé have to say?"

Shifting her position slightly, Kairi smiled up at him brightly. She then made a face. "I'm not telling. Girl talk. But hey, do you think you could give me a ride?"

Riku brought his right hand to his hair and smoothed it back. "I dunno, shouldn't I know what the secret is before I drive you there for your 'Girl Talk'?" He shifted and placed both his hands behind his head and stretched.

"I'll tell you on the way."

Another smile, and Kairi sprang to her feet lightly, while Riku got up a bit slower. Jogging over towards the direction of Riku's car, the girl turned and flashed a goofy grin, which urged the older teen to run and catch up to her. God he loved her smile.

Climbing into the passenger's seat and buckling her seatbelt, Kairi proceeded to lock the door.

"What are you locking it for?" Riku opened his own door and slid into his seat, shooting her a quizzical look.

"Cause I'm using my secret to bribe you into driving me to Naminé's." The cheesy grin returned. "I wouldn't put it past you to throw me out." Now the sticking out of the tongue again.

Riku chuckled to himself as he started the ignition. "Well, you're lucky you're so damn cute, or I might've considered it."

Kairi could feel her face heat up at this little 'compliment', and so she turned to look out the window. She was preoccupied with watching the brilliant colors of the leaves fly by her window when her thoughts, or lack there of, were interrupted.

"So what did she say?"

"Why do you wanna know so bad?"

"Cause."

"Roxas finally asked her out." Kairi slowly let this one out, because for some reason she felt like she should talk to Naminé before telling people anything.

"That's it?"

"What d'ya mean 'that's it'?"

Riku took his eyes off the road for a moment to look down at the small girl's face. Man did she look pissed. "I just thought that, uh... there'd be more to it."

He continued to watch her as her frown deepened, and he couldn't help but say to himself_ 'Why is she so mad at me? Is she just PMSing?'_

"What was that Riku?"

_Uh oh. Maybe it wasn't so much to himself._

"Did you just say what I think you said?"

_'Oh shit.'_

"Riku?" Kairi's face had blown to enormous proportions, and Riku was afraid that if he poked at her any more she might pop.

"Uh..." Riku was dumbfounded, and could not find anything to say that would get him out of trouble. He'd really done it now.

But before Riku knew what was happening, Kairi had opened the door and jumped out of the car, slamming the door roughly behind her. He hadn't realized that they had already arrived. '_Well at least it saves me from having to explain-'_

"Thanks for the ride." He knew that she didn't mean it, as she looked about ready to kill him with her death glare back towards his window. Her voice was so full of poison and spite, that Riku found himself looking away and towards the ground as she squinted her eyes almost painfully at him. Suddenly the emergency brake looked very interesting.

He watched as she sauntered on through the door without knocking, and started the car. He was mentally hitting himself all the way home, as he tried to keep the image of the girl who's red locks were being tossed by the wind, out of his head.

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"Ahh you shouldn't have let that get to ya."

Naminé crossed her room uneasily as a steamed Kairi sat on her bed. Well, if you could call it sitting, as it was more like a sort of tight, rigamortis seat than anything else.

"I know. I don't even know what happened. Maybe I was just PMSing..."

Kairi trailed off as she thought about what she was saying. _'Nah.'_

"You know Kai, I think you just like making him _think_ you're mad at him. You like having him at your mercy. And you know why?"

Kairi didn't really comprehend what Naminé was saying, as she was thinking of other things at the moment. "What?"

"It's because you like him, and you like teasing him and playing hard to get. That's always how you've been."

At this, Kairi shot up from her stiff position on the down comforter and snapped her head in Naminé's direction. "What type of crack did you switch to, hun?"

Naminé giggled at her reaction, and took Kairi's now deserted space on her bed. "You are_ nasty_ when you're in denial."

Kairi grimaced, as she thought of something to change the subject away from herself. And on to Naminé...

"So, what was it like when he asked you out?"

At this, the blonde girl blushed slightly, though she wasn't going to give that easily. "Nice try, but you should just tell me the truth. I am your best friend after all, right?"

_'Ooooh, playing the best friend card. Veeeery sneaky.' _

Kairi looked down towards Naminé's bright pink carpet to hide any blush that she knew would make an appearance on her face at any moment. She made a genuine effort to sort through her feelings and really look at them. Did she have a thing for Riku? She was just about to open her mouth to answer, with what she didn't know, but was interrupted when her cell phone once again rang.

Naminé made a face as Kairi pulled her phone out and flipped it open. "Hello?"

There was a slight pause, where Naminé noticed that Kairi's eyes went a little wider.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. _Pause._ I know. Alright, I'll see you in a few."

_Click._ Kairi turned towards her friend as she hung up on the caller. "Speak of the devil." Her lips spread as her cheeks rose in a smile. "I've got to go, Nami. I'll call you tomorrow."

"Hey, wait a minute. You never answered me." Naminé felt her own smile grow as she watched Kairi.

Kairi paused in the doorframe as she thought to answer Naminé. She looked to her friend. "Yes, I suppose I do."

Naminé giggled again as she watched her best friend bounce through the door and down the grand stairway. _She had known it all along._

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Kairi shivered slightly as she stood outside of Naminé's house. Crossing her arms, she shuffled her feet into the grass as she felt the cool night breeze coming on. The sky had deepened, and the girl felt relieved when she finally saw the headlights graze over her figure for a quick second as Riku's car pulled into the driveway.

With hint of a skip to her step, Kairi strode over to the car and opened the passenger door. She rubbed her hands together and blew into them after she had closed it and faced the other teen.

"So, ready to apologize?"

Riku shifted in his seat uncomfortably as he kept his eyes on the road as they pulled out of the driveway. "Sigh I guess..."

As a playful slap was placed on his shoulder, he found himself chuckling. They both laughed for a while as they approached Kairi's house.

As they pulled up to her garage, Riku looked over at Kairi for the first time since she'd gotten in (he didn't want to be distracted from the road), and realized that she was shivering. He frowned at this and leaned over into the back seat.

"Here, you look like you could use this."

Kairi looked up from blowing into her hands and saw Riku taking a navy blanket and wrapping it around her. She blushed lightly.

"There ya go, snug as a bug in a rug. Or however that thing goes..."

As she grinned, Riku took the opportunity to let his fingers do their thing, and ran them up and down her sides while she sat trapped in her warming device. Giggling madly, Kairi squirmed as she tried to escape from the tangle of the blanket and Riku's hands at the same time.

While trying to do so, she somehow slid under the larger boy next to her and he fell on top of her. They both stayed perfectly still, listening only to each other's breaths and heartbeats. They were both to afraid to move.

Riku was yelling at himself to _do something, _but he just lay there, feeling her underneath him, though no longer struggling. Kairi looked as though she was in complete shock. And then it came to him, almost out of thin air. _He had to make some sort of move sometime, didn't he?_

He shifted himself on top of the girl's body, but did not get off. She squirmed again from underneath him, and refused to look him in the eyes.

"Kairi, do you want to go to prom with me?"

The small girl's eyes shifted and she finally locked them with his.

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Okay, I know that that ending was really stupid, but I had been planning it to end that way, and the rest of the chapter to not be so, _hopeful._ Anyway, I like when they take things relatively slow in relationship, so I'm sorry if this seems like a snail's pace, I'm just writing what the reality that I'm using from my life was, and believe me, it was a lot longer than in the story.

I am actually kind of proud cause this chapter is twice the length of any other chapter I've written, and it didn't really take me that long to write, I just took long breaks in between writings.

Next chapter will hopefully be up maybe the week I get out of school, but you never know, cause I've got finals and I kinda like to do other stuff for my first couple of days off :-P Anyway, R&R please. Constructive criticism welcome flames not. I like to know how I'm doing, and try and put stuff into the story that the readers want.


	5. Dresses?

Hello--- Fifth chapter and sorry about the wait. I kinda rewrote the whole chapter cause I hated the first version. Actually, I'm still not really happy with it, but I figure the wait was getting long enough. Ummm I usually say the same exact thing in the top and bottom comments, so I'll just save you the bore and the time for those of you who actually read these :P Bring on the chappie!

Disclaimer: I own neither the story nor the characters of KH. They belong to Square Enix and Disney.

Chapter 5: Dresses?

Recap:

He shifted himself on top of the girl's body, but did not get off. She squirmed again from underneath him, and refused to look him in the eyes.

"Kairi, do you want to go to prom with me?"

The small girl's eyes shifted and she finally locked them with his.

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"Kairi?"

His voice was strong; sure. To Kairi, it sounded as though nothing could break him, though she knew one thing would, and she wouldn't be able to bear the fallen look on his face.

He had called her name. Again. She let it echo through her mind and refused to respond. She couldn't… she didn't know what to say. At a complete loss for words.

"Kairi…?"

His voice had lost some of its certainty, and Kairi felt herself becoming momentarily weak at the knees and thanked the fact that she was lying down. Underneath him.

Her eyes were still locked with his, and she shivered at his intense gaze. The stare brought back memories; memories of them as children, and how frightened she was of those eyes. She had been in this position before, only this time, she wasn't afraid.

"Riku…" Her words fell softly and almost unheard from her lips, but the boy above her strained his ears enough to hear them. Her confidence grew, though not possibly enough to match his.

"…Yes…"

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"Oh... my God Kairi. Are you serious?"

Selphie, Kairi's other best friend, had taken to jumping up and down excitedly on Kairi's water bed, despite the difficulty with the water, with extreme enthusiasm. Her brunette pigtails bounced with her, rising and falling and mocking her actions, until she finally lost her balance and fell into the large pile of pink and white pillows arranged neatly towards the head of the bed.

"I always knew that you two would get together some time. You guys were just too stubborn," Selphie said as she laughed out as pillows flew everywhere, including at Kairi's head, which knocked her back into complete consciousness. She looked up and smiled though, despite being hit in this face.

"Yeah, maybe you're right. I just don't know where we stand now. I mean, maybe he just needs a favor. As a friend."

Selphie stopped her laughing as she gave Kairi a 'You _must _be joking' stare. Shaking her head and ignoring the fact that her friend was too naïve for her own good, she again turned to her usual good natured smile and jumped off of the bed.

"Well, either way, me and Nami are taking you dress shopping!"

Selphie looked as though she could hardly contain her enthusiasm as she took to madly twirling her hair around her fingers. Boy did she have a lot of caffeine today.

Kairi smiled to herself while her friend took to rummaging through her closet: no doubt looking for shoes. _Maybe Selphie's right. Maybe it is more than a favor._

Kairi looked up when she noticed that Selphie had stopped shifting around through her things and was staring at her face with a smirk on her own. "You're thinking about him, aren't you?"

The brunette squealed loudly as Kairi blushed as a response. "C'mon Selph. Leave me alone."

"Alright, I'll stop buggin you. But that doesn't mean you're off the hook, Missy!"

As soon as Selphie had disappeared behind the door and bounced off to call Naminé, Kairi felt it safe to let her emotions grace her face once again. She beamed as she threw herself down backwards onto her soft comforter. _"I'm going to prom."_

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"What happened to you?"

Sora put his cigarette down into the small ashtray as he took another shot at the basketball hoop. **(Don't kill me, I just hate when Sora's too goody-goody :P) **_Swish._

"Yes, I can tell how interested you are. Here, hand me the ball."

Riku could tell that Sora was not in the best mood as the younger boy chucked the ball at his older brother with quite a bit of unnecessary force.

"Mom and Dad are finally splitting you know." Sora showed no emotion on his face while he waited for Riku to take his shot. "I'm guessing that that's not what's on your mind?"

Riku took to biting his cheek before taking a jump shot. Another _whoosh._ "No, that's not it. What happened this time?"

"Dad finally caught Mum with Rick, or Dick, or whatever the fuck his name is." Riku grimaced as he watched his brother's expression. Sora had a look of almost satisfaction on his face, and it made Riku's stomach churn slightly. "So why are you so happy about all of this?" Riku inquired.

Sora looked up towards Riku as he received the ball from him. "What d'ya mean? How can you _not _be happy about this? I thought you an me were always together on this; we wanted them to stop fighting and just split. They are the two biggest assholes in the world, and for them to be together any longer might just make the world implode, ya know?"

"I know," Riku whispered to the pavement. "I just never thought they'd go through with it. It's different now... somehow."

The wind suddenly picked up and swept through the hair of both brothers; neither reaching up to brush it away. The uneasiness in the air was palpable, and neither Sora nor Riku wanted to break the awkward silence and express any sort of opinions. Someone had to, though.

"I'm going to prom with Kairi." Riku couldn't take any more standing and shifting of the feet while avoiding talking to his brother, so it seemed the right thing to blurt out at the time. Now it wasn't looking like the best option.

"You're what? You bagged Kairi? How man?" Sora obviously didn't care about Riku's conversation choice; anything to change the subject. "I mean, I know how you were talking about some "new and different" girl earlier, but Kairi? I thought she was still scared of you."

"Scared of me? What the hell are you talking about?" Riku was genuinely confused as he listened to Sora babble on with the new subject.

"Kairi? Jeeze... when we were little, she told me that you used to scare the shit out of her. I don't see why, personally, but that's what she told me." Sora took this opportunity to give his brother an especially cheesy grin while he recollected more thoughts. "You remember what you were like when we were younger; we would fight and then sometimes you'd... turn on Kairi when you were on one of your little rampages."

Riku hung his head and closed his eyes painfully. "She was really scared?"

"Goddammit what have I said three times? Yes, she told me."

"...Oh..."

Sora watched as Riku seemed to daze off and stare up at the sky. He had let the basketball lazily drift across the pavement with the wind, while his hands hung limp by his sides. He then looked down onto the driveway, remembering the day he learned to ride a bike. He had felt so free then; he wasn't scared of falling and hurting himself. Now that he thought about it, Riku couldn't remember a time of ever being scared. He couldn't recall the feeling of being terrified. He never realized that that could be a bad thing.

"Hey, now what's 'a matter?"

Riku finally looked up and at his brother once more as Sora took another drag from his cig. "That'll kill you one day, ya know."

Sora waved him off as he threw the butt to the pavement and ground it with the tip of his abnormally large shoe. "Since when are you Dad?"

Riku couldn't help himself and again averted eye contact. He let out a deep breath. "Since Dad's gunna be moving out."

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Naminé swept her eyes over the elegant room; trying to take everything in and hanging her mouth open in astonishment at the same time.

"You know, I thought that you were gunna turn me down."

Naminé snapped back from her state of wonder and faced her date.

"Why would you think that?"

"Because you are _the _Naminé."

He laughed, and she laughed with him.

Time past rapidly. They had chatted over dinner for over an hour; their delicately prepared meals lay forgotten and cold on the table, though their conversation far from it. When Naminé had first walked into the restaurant she had silently worried about how expensive the restaurant was. The decorations littered throughout, the fine courses being served to people laughing haughtily with each other, and the infection of classy fashion sense seemed to plague the entire room.

"What do you mean, _the _Naminé? Huh?"

"I thought that you're too much of a lady to consider dating a guy like me."

He smiled. Her heart melted.

"I'm not a princess, you know."

"To me you are."

She blushed, and playfully slapped his arm.

"C'mon, Roxas. Don't be such a flirt."

"So it's working then?"

He gave her yet another heart melting grin. How did he ever manage to master that? That simple little smirk: flirty, yet non-expectant. God he was gorgeous.

While Naminé sported a dazed looking smile on her face, Roxas took the opportunity to gaze at the girl before him. Everything about her seemed perfect: her simple, yet elegant manor, and the fact that she seemed to glow and just emanate warmth. God she was beautiful.

All seemed to be perfect in the minds of the two teens. That was until the annoying buzz of a phone vibrating went off in Naminé's jacket pocket. A brilliant blush ensued on Naminé's cheeks as she reached behind the back of her chair and grasped her cell phone letting out a slight sigh.

The girl could feel Roxas' eyes on her as she tilted her head to whisper into her phone, "Hello?"

Roxas continued to look on, and watched Naminé's facial expression change from an embarrassed expression into a knowing smirk while static fuzzed on in the background (at least from what Roxas could hear). "Who did you prove wrong?" he asked in a teasing tone.

Naminé whipped her head to face the boy with a smile beaming on her face. "Kairi." Smirk.

Roxas put his hand to his forehead and shook his head in mock exasperation. "Is there no one who can match you?"

Naminé put her own slender hand to her chin and feigned contemplation. She paused, and then said, "No, I don't believe there is."

They both laughed and Roxas went back to staring at his date's face. "So what's going on?"

Naminé smiled genuinely at Roxas and lightly touched his hand with hers. "Well, it looks like I'm not the only one going prom dress shopping."

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Alrighty, done with that one, though it's a little later coming out than I had planned >.> I'm also sorry that they're really wasn't much Riku/Kairi (for those of you who actually like the Riku/Kairi), and this chapter just kinda seems like a filler and adds some background and depth I think to Riku. It also builds on the Roxas/Naminé.

Same length as the last one, so that's nice, and no cliff-hanger for those who hate them :P -Saz and Rhain- I have absolutely no idea when the next chappie will be up, sorry, but maybe in a month if I'm lucky. (And I will try and make it at least as long as these last two chapters.) Thank you sooo much to all of my reviewers, and again I'm sorry for the wait. I haven't even been responding to reviews, which is shitty of me, but I appreciate them even if I don't message you back. Ok, I know I don't deserve them, but pleeeeeeease please review! It feeds my, err, inspiration tube! Yeah.

Anyway, Please R&R, and I'll try and update A.S.A.P., no matter how long it takes. ( I won't give up on this story even if I get a writers block.) Thank you guys so much again, and hope you keep reading! Oh yeah, and happy Fourth of July :P

SimplenSweet


	6. Ice Cream and Strangers

...Wow... this is long. For me, anyway haha. Anyway, I started this chapter right after my last one, but then things happened and this whole huge sob story and... you can read about it in my profile if you want. It has been MONTHS since I've updated, I know and I'm sorry for those of you who were originally reading this. This chapter gets a little bit more mature, though it's not deserving of the actual rating (or at least I don't think so. Tell me if you think it is.) since I bleeped things out when editing. Alright, enough chit-chat, and on with the really really long chappie!

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"So, how was it?"

"I am definitely regretting taking that class."

Kairi had her hand to her forehead as she walked out of her Psychology class, where she had spent the hour tuning in and out of the intense conversation going on during class. She was not with it today, and when she was not with it, she could not concentrate on those stupid discussions on 'Why people think the way they do'. The only time she had paid any attention at all was when the teacher had brought up the subject of 'Love: is it real, or just an illusion?'

"Hey Kairi, I talked to him today." Selphie's smirk had grown and she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. When she finally realized that Kairi had zoned out and wasn't paying any attention to her, she frowned and nudged her lightly with her elbow. "Looks like you've already got him on your mind."

_Wow, everything Mr. Tanaka said about love, well, I-_

"Kairi!"

"Wha-What?"

Selphie's face had turned a nice shade of crimson while she gave Kairi her best death glare. "Were you paying any attention to me at all?"

Kairi couldn't help herself and backed up slightly away from her friend. "…Yes."

Selphie lowered her fierce look and loosened her muscles. "Oh, well in that case, you agree with me?"

"Um… of course I do, Selph!" Kairi was positive that she was walking right into a trap as she said this, but went ahead and spoke aloud anyway. "Why wouldn't I agree with you?"

"Hmm, I don't know Kai. But hey, at least you finally admitted that chocolate is better than vanilla." The smirk that had been hiding beneath Selphie's features surfaced itself now, while Kairi's face turned to that of mortification.

"No! Never! Chocolate is the most disgusting flavor ever!" Vanilla is sooo much better!"

"Well you agreed that vanilla was horrible, so I'm sorry, but that means that chocolate is now the best flavor."

Kairi simply sighed, deciding to end the bizarre fight. "Fine, chocolate's the best. We'll go get ice cream after school. If we can find Naminé, that is."

The two girls walked side by side down the almost empty hallway, giggling all the way to their next classes.

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"Hey Sora, what's on tonight?"

Riku flopped down beside his little brother on the lumpiest couch known to man. He quickly glanced at Sora to confirm that he did indeed have the T.V. remote held lifelessly in his hand. The soft glow of the lamplight seemed to dim slightly as the two brothers sat in an unakward silence for a moment.

"It's a Friday night. Why are you wondering what's on T.V.?"

The silver haired teen sniffled a bit. _That damn cold._ He asked himself the same question. _Why am I sitting home on a Friday night? How pathetic have I become so that it's finally come to this?_

"Wait a minute, Sor, why can't I ask you the same question?"

Sora didn't react to this question, just continued to stare blankly at the animated screen that currently had a man diving away from an explosion flitting across it. Riku sniffled again, and at this, Sora looked upwards towards the ceiling. Riku furrowed his brows in confusion, realizing that he wasn't going to get an answer out of the boy. He chose to sigh loudly instead, trying to get some sort of reaction out of Sora.

Sora continued to stare up at the ceiling, as if trying to see through it with his newly discovered x-ray vision.

"You know, we should get off of our lazy asses and do something tonight so we don't look like _complete_ losers."

Riku placed his hands behind his head to try and gain some comfort while sitting on that monstrosity of a couch and crossed his legs, again, not really expecting his brother to answer him.

"Why don't you call Kairi?"

At this, Riku looked over towards Sora with his mouth hanging slightly ajar. He wasn't prepared for that. He should be prepared for that.

"I-uhhh... what?"

Sora finally dropped his gaze from the ceiling to look seriously at his brother.

"Since when are you so shy? Oh yeah, since it's Kairi you're going after, I forgot."

A slight smirk marked Sora's face as his serious look fell, and Riku could feel his own face begin to burn despite himself. He couldn't believe he let his little brother embarrass him like that.

"I'm going out. I'll be back in a few hours."

Riku already had his phone to his ear and ringing when Sora asked: "Where'ya going?"

"As much as I'd love to sit here on the couch with my little bro on a Friday night, watch movies, paint each other's toe nails, and all that other crap, I'm going to save myself from that level of pathetic options and head to the mall with Tidus and Wakka."

"Buy Kairi some Red Vines at the movies on me, 'kay?"

Riku left his house shaking his head at his brother while he tossed him a few bucks out the door. He held the phone to his ear still and sniffled again, trying to get back to regular breathing and revive his nonexistent sense of smell.

As he bent to crouch into his car, Riku felt his eyes being drawn up towards an upstairs window, and the silver-haired boy drove off, half listening to Wakka confirm plans in his richly accented voice, and half watching the heavy smoke billowing out of his mother's open window.

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"Alright, you're right already! Calm down!"

The girls giggled as Kairi was forced to give in to her friends' peer pressure over ice cream flavors. A Vanilla versus two Chocolates. It was easy to see who would win.

"Jeese I've never seen anybody so worked up over flavors before!"

Selphie and Naminé could not help rolling in the seats with laughter, and so Kairi took this opportunity to excuse herself and buy a drink. She bounced across the mall food court over to a small drink stand, but was stopped suddenly in her tracks when a man placed himself right in her path.

"Oh, Excuse me, I'm sorry," She said, brushing it off and letting it slide blaming herself, even though it was clearly the man's mistake.

"Oh no, excuse me Babe, my bad."

He smirked, but his smirk didn't remind her of Sora's forever-cheeky smirk, it almost reminded her of... Riku's. And it scared her, just as _his_ always had. She stood there frozen to the spot, and lost all feeling in her legs. She roughly swallowed, and, remembering her scratchy throat, also remembered her destination.

"Okay, I'm just gunna be off to the drink stand..."

With that said, she had hoped that she would have been able to move again, but alas, luck was not with her tonight. She continued to stand still, though shifted her gaze to the floor as she couldn't look at his face.

He couldn't have been much older than twenty, but he was quite tall and very intimidating to look at, especially when he was a foot in front of you and not budging from his spot. He had dark and chiseled features that for some reason made him all the more terrifying to her. Kairi felt herself let out a small _squeak_ when he took a step closer.

"What are you doing here all by yourself tonight, Hunny? You look like you could use some company."

Another smirk. Why was the mall cop missing _now _of all times? He was always hounding them when he wasn't needed, but when she finally did...

She felt her entire body tense up reactively as she sensed his hand grasp her shoulder tightly. She even let out a slight gasp and her eyes widened as she let them rise to meet his. When they finally did, her eyes were already beginning to tear, and they sat swimming in her sockets, questioning the hard, icy orbs of the man who now physically held her in place. She silently panicked.

The intimidating man slowly brought his lips to her ear, and while increasing the pressure on her slender shoulder, whispered, "Don't even think about yelling, because I can see your friends over there, and I've got a couple of buddies who would take them out of here and bleep (it's for the good of the TEEN warning) them in a heartbeat sitting two seats behind them."

If Kairi's eyes were wide before, they were now bulging out of her head, as her captor finished his disgustingly husky whisper with a flick of his tongue to her earlobe. She shivered violently, and clenched her fists.

_He-he- he can't do anything here... There are too many people around...If I scream... Selphie! Naminé! Oh no..._

Thoughts were violently swimming through her mind, and Kairi couldn't help herself when she began to feel light-headed and felt herself go a bit limp under his ever-tightening grip.

_They're too far away! What if he and his friends have knives, or guns! What am I going to do?_

"Pick up the pace, Princess."

Kairi hadn't even realized that he had begun to lead her, or more drag her, towards the exit that now stood only a little ways away. His arm was now snaked around her neck to look casual, but still managed to hold the same animosity. The food court was out of sight.

"N...no."

She could only whisper, and what she wanted to sound firm and strong came out as pathetic sounding as was possible.

"What was that?"

She shut up real quick as she received a snarl as a response, and again felt her knees buckle and turn to mush. She didn't want to endanger her friends, but right now she was the one who needed help.

It was when they reached the door that Kairi started to drag her feet and cause as much friction as possible against the auto-mats, which eventually just got her a death glare shot in her direction. And it was then, as she watched the doors automatically close behind them, that she finally felt the danger that she was in and let her impending tears silently fall as her subjugator lead her to what she could only assume was some dark and foreboding alley somewhere.

He had lead her almost to the end of the parking lot, where only two other cars were parked. Finally reaching a small, almost sinister looking car that she could barely make out in the dark, he spoke up again.

"Well get in the bleep-ing car already."

Every word he spoke sent horrible chills down her spine, but she had been taught to _never_ get into a car with someone you didn't know, and so, even though she was scared out of her wits, she stood her ground and looked up at him-almost defiantly.

At this, Kairi was surprised when the man emitted a cruel chuckle from deep in his throat and matched her glare, though his looking down on her's looked a bit more menacing.

"I said, _get in the car._"

And without even letting her respond, he grasped her roughly by the shoulders and threw her down into the driver's seat. Kairi felt her body slam into the leather and her head connect violently with something, and the dazed feeling returned, though with much more intensity than before. She couldn't even begin to grasp what was happening to her before the man was on top of her and tearing at her madly with a look of pure lust on his face. Her scream was silenced in her throat, and her voice was gone.

Doing the first thing that she could think of, she began flailing wildly as she continued to panic in the pitch black of the icy vehicle. Waving her arms just trying to hit whatever she could reach was not doing her any good, however, as he simply managed to capture both of her hands in one of his own and continue his assault on the rest of her already half torn open shirt with the other.

It was only when headlights could be seen flaring ahead for a moment that he halted his attack on her body, though he continued to squeeze her hands tightly together over his head.

"Shut up." He whispered in a somewhat hoarse voice, and turned his head to look up over the windshield while pushing the girl beneath him deeper into the seat, making her begin to cry again.

Kairi took this moment of peace to carefully maneuver her foot up under him, and then snapped her leg out to its full extension. Bulls-eye.

"You bleep-ing bitch!" Was followed by Kairi being backhanded violently across her face, knocking her head back to finally collide with whatever it had collided with before, and she let out a loud scream, which the man immediately muffled with his free hand.

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The slapping sound had been enough, but the scream sealed the deal: somebody was in trouble over in the next parking lot.

Riku had thought that the lone car he had passed on his way in had looked suspicious, especially since the front door was ajar and he couldn't see a light on or anyone in it.

The silver-haired boy made an abrupt U-turn and headed for the car. Sure enough, he could just make out the shape of someone's legs sticking out of the car, and it didn't exactly look like the owner had dropped something between the seat: his (or who Riku assumed was a he) legs were thrashing wildly and he yelled something incoherently.

Riku's eyes widened and he halted to a screeching stop when he finally came close enough to realize that there was someone else in the car: a girl. The girl wasn't moving, which worried him, and so he yanked the keys out of the ignition and started running towards the dark car. When he came to be only a few yards away, the man finally turned and acknowledged that someone was coming, and lifted himself slightly from the figure below him.

Riku felt his heart hit his stomach.

There she was. Kairi lay lifeless like a rag doll across the two front seats with her shirt torn open and her skirt pulled halfway down.

And bruises. Everywhere.

Her livid face and body were completely uncovered when Riku realized that the man had gotten off of her limp body and began pushing her into the passenger's seat, while he put himself in the driver's, making ready for a quick getaway.

_Oh no you don't._

Riku sprang from the pavement and sprinted to the car. As the dark man grasped the handle, ready to slam the door, Riku managed to shove his entire arm in between and wrench the door open, almost off of its hinges. Riku watched the man's eyes bulge as the teen grabbed him by the throat and ripped him out of the car, knocking him roughly against the door on the way and onto the pavement, omitting a loud _Oomph! _from him. _Wow, it really is true what they say about adrenaline._

While in his beserken state, Riku didn't even realize what he was doing, as he was only focused on beating the shit out of the pathetic human being, if you could call him that, below him. He could hear him grunt loudly and curl into the fetal position as Riku continued his blind assault on his stomach, not even caring that this wasn't a fair or honorable fight. It didn't matter to him that this wasn't the manly thing to do; it was the cowardly way out.

Riku finally halted his assault when he realized that he could no longer hear the grunts and groans, and he breathed heavily as he looked down and clearly saw that the man was out cold. Blood highlighted his dark features, and bruises adorned any exposed part of skin that he could see. And then he remembered her.

Rushing to the car and completely forgetting that he could barely breath, Riku violently jerked open the door (and this time actually pulling off) and gazed upon the angelic face below him.

She looked deathly pale, and Riku didn't even want to begin to comprehend how she could get her back to bend that way. He cringed as he sneaked his arms under her, one under her knees and the other wrapped around her back. She felt so small and frail to him, and he seriously worried that he might snap her body in half if he wasn't careful. And yet through all of his worry, he still had that reaction any guy would get looking down at her with her clothes ripped half off...

His own eyes widened as she suddenly opened hers the slightest bit to look up at him, smile the smallest of smiles, and drift closed again.

He felt like _he _should be the one on the pavement as he forced himself to look straight ahead towards his car as he walked towards it, making sure to step on the pile of shit in the way. Feeling his eyes drifting, he just wanted someone to come up and punch him in the face. _I can't believe myself! It's like I'm not even worried about her. _He squeezed his eyes shut as he opened the passenger's side door and placed Kairi lightly in it.

Grabbing a blanket that he had in the back, he placed it over her, making sure she was covered from her shoulders to her feet, and tucking it in to her sides. He climbed into the driver's seat and sat there for a moment without even putting in the key. He looked over to Kairi, who now appeared so helpless he felt himself choke up. Her lips held no color, and her cheeks were pale as well, and without any control over his body, Riku found his hand touch her cheek and stay there. He watched his hand; so large and dark next to her snow-kissed skin, and made himself turn away to look out his windshield in front of him, suddenly feeling the corners of his eyes tug.

As he looked out the window, his hand still holding Kairi's cheek, Riku felt the anger building up inside of him again. He felt so guilty. _How could this have happened to her? She's so innocent, and I was almost too late... and I'm even having those bleep-ing thoughts at a time like this? What the hell is wrong with me?_

Riku let a single tear roll down his face as he continued to stare into the cold night, and let another slide down as he felt Kairi's hand lightly land on his.

* * *

Woooh okay, very, VERY long for me haha. I know that last part was kinda weird, some cliche-i-ness going on to, and you're probably wondering what the hell Riku is thinking, but I promise, all in good time. Again, sorry for the wicked long wait. I've actually been working on a couple of one-shots, so those should be coming out soon, too. Please R&R, and as usual, constructive criticism welcome, flames not. Ta-ta

SimplenSweet


	7. Bruises and Scars

Wow... this update took a lot longer than I had expected it to. And I finished the last half in one sitting, which is weird for me... Anyway, Sorry for the delay, so on with the story.

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not own Kingdom Hearts or its characters. They belong to Square Enix and Disney.

Riku struggled with cradling Kairi's limp body in his arms while trying to unlock the front door of his father's condo at the same time. He knew it would've been easier leaving her in the car, but he just couldn't leave her by herself, even if for only a minute. A loud _click _finally sounded, and Riku twisted the doorknob with some difficulty until he felt himself stumble through the doorway.

Listening intently for a sign of Sora or his mother, he heard Kairi moan slightly, and he looked down onto her eyelashes slowly unlocking themselves from each other and flit across her cheek. She smiled up at him.

"You fell asleep again in the car, Kairi. I brought you back to my dad's house."

Her eyebrows furrowed in a confused manner and she looked down at herself in Riku's arms, and still wrapped snuggly in his navy throw. She blushed lightly.

"You don't have to carry me, you know, Riku."

Riku surprisingly didn't blush, but just threw her an '_Are you sure?'_ look with his eyes and a serious, concerned expression plastered on his face. He walked across the threshold of the living room and set her down on the couch from hell. His family really should have their priorities straightened out, and the new list should contain new furniture.

Kairi ruffled the blanket she had wrapped around her body and looked down at the cheap-looking table in front of her. Sports magazines, plates with half-eaten pieces of pizza lay strewn about, a pack of cigarettes, a video case with a half naked woman on the cover, a hookah off to the side, and that was just the coffee table. Kairi had stepped foot into the ultimate bachelor pad, though she'd rather look at the mess than up at her silver haired savior at the moment.

Everything in the room was now making Riku uneasy, and he felt his head spin slightly with his thoughts slamming against the sides of his brain, just waiting to burst out. The shouts from the floor below were not making it any easier on his pounding mind, and so he tried to focus himself on something that always calmed him: Kairi. This time, however, her creamy, black-and-blue skin hurt his eyes, and he forced himself to turn away. Realization at how stupid he was hit him like a ton of bricks.

"Kairi! We have to get you to a hospital, or something! We have to find your parents!"

Kairi's eyes shot open. "No Riku, you can't! Please, don't tell anyone!"

An awkward silence fell over the room as Riku stared at the frail girl, now slightly shaking, on his couch while she avoided his gaze. Wrapped in her warm, navy cocoon Kairi felt braver and Riku could just barely pick up her whisperings to her toes, "Please, don't get adults involved, not just yet." She shrugged deeper into the badly broken in cushions, hiding herself and trying to make her seem smaller than she already was, if it were at all possible.

The boy standing opposite her restrained himself from rushing for her when he saw the girl wince sinking in to the couch. He ran her words through his mind, frowning to himself, and finally came to his conclusion. He reached into his pocket for his phone, just as it began ringing loudly and making that vibrating noise that Riku swore would be the bane of his existence one of these days. Flipping open his phone, Riku gave a rather gruff '_Yeah_' into the mouthpiece.

Kairi looked on through the lashes folded neatly over her eyes onto Riku's almost comical face: his nose scrunched up and him pacing madly about the dump of a room. She couldn't help but let out a chuckle while she heard the crackle of words she couldn't discern and watching the strange expression get stranger on her savior's face. His face was not as amused, however.

"Yeah, she's here, I've got her with me... Yes, I-... Yes, she's fine, but-... Naminé! Can you please calm down and stop talking for a minute! Kairi's here with me and she's okay, but I think you should come to my dad's place and check her out, okay?"

Kairi heard a muffled ' Why?! What's wrong with her? What did you do to her Riku?!' before Riku yelled a rushed and exasperated 'Goodbye, Nam!' into the mouth piece and snapped the phone shut. Kairi couldn't help herself and let out a small stream of giggles once again, hopelessly trying to smother them with her hand. She cringed as she realized how much it actually hurt her ribs to laugh now, and so she immediately stopped, as though a switch had been flicked. Riku tilted his head to look at her, and his frown deepened watching her contorted facial expression.

"Kairi, I know you probably don't want to talk about this, least of all to me, that's why I called Nami over, but please, are you alright?"

_Hmm, was she alright? That was a good question... _

The redheaded girl found herself staring at her hands and roughly picking at her light pink nail polish. She really didn't want to answer, but she could see his eyebrows knitting so tightly at her unresponsive nature that she was afraid his face might permanently stay in a questionable _'I'm about to cry, but trying not to show it'_ countenance. She had to say something to save him from his terrible fate.

"Umm, Riku? Do you happen to have anything else I could wear instead of this blanket? I'm getting kind of warm."

_Oh yeah, great way to avert attention there Kairi. _

Riku lost the worried look, and instead replaced it with a somewhat embarrassed one, and shifted his weight evenly to both feet to prepare to walk into his room and grab something for her to wear.

Kairi sat in the eerie silence for what seemed like hours, shivering to herself, now regretting asking to give up her plush source of protection from the chilled air. She watched the doorway that Riku disappeared through, never letting her eyes wander away, until he reappeared.

He clutched a long white t-shirt in his unsteady hand and rigidly thrust it out towards Kairi after making the short venture across the room. Kairi took the shirt with a small and almost incoherent _thank you_ as she shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Riku just continued to stare at the floor.

"Um, Riku?"

His head shot up.

"Yeah?"

"Uh, is there anyway I could, maybe, um, get a little privacy?"

She blushed profusely and watched the dumbfounded look on his face.

"Oh! Uh, yeah, sure! Sorry..."

Kairi tried to keep the chuckle threatening to rise from her throat in place while Riku scurried back from whence he came. As she slowly discarded her clothes, Kairi began to look down at her arms, legs, and the rest of her body. Livid blue and purple splotches adorned her pale silk skin, and she cringed when her shredded shirt roughly scraped her shoulders and her equally torn skirt grated against her thighs. Finally leaving on only her bra and panties, Kairi donned the gigantic t-shirt and felt it drop below her knees. _Wow I'm short..._

"Riku, it's safe to come out from hiding"

She watched the scarlet face emerge from the next room and cloudy eyes drift slowly up from their hiding place on the ground and slowly graze up to the edge of her shirt past the battered legs and up until they eventually met her curious face. The eyes immediately dropped as well as the mouth below them. It was then that the door slammed open.

"Kairi, where the hell have you been? Me and Selphie have been looking everywhere for you!"

"I-I umm, well-"

Kairi was immediately saved from having to tell her best friend that she had almost been raped. She didn't feel she could muster the strength right now.

"Naminé, do you want to step into the next room with me for a second?"

"This is no time to be puttin the moves on me, Riku. What the hell happened? You can't just expect me to act like you didn't just _ditch _me and Selph at the mall, did you? And Kairi, why are you wearing that hideous t-shirt? And- what the fuck is that hookah doing on your table!?"

"Naminé! Get in here now!"

The attention had shifted to Riku's irritated face sitting in the doorway again, and for that, Kairi was glad. She scrunched her shoulders and shifted the cotton cloth uncomfortably as she watched Naminé reluctantly head into the other room. She was again left in silence, as Naminé had halted her full-frontal frenzy of an attack of her orifice, and she listened intently to pick-up bits of their conversation.

Kairi began to wonder what was so top secret being held up in that room that soundproof walls were necessary. Finally, after about ten minutes of Kairi sitting in absolute silence, left to stare at her twiddling thumbs, the door opened, and Naminé emerged in tears.

"Oh my God Kairi! I can't believe this!"

Naminé rushed to her friend's side and immediately enveloped her in a hug, which for some reason Kairi found rather awkward. She found herself patting the blonde hair and gazing over Naminé's shoulder towards Riku, who stood unmoving and looking rather... alone.

"You have no idea how worried me and Selpie were! Why didn't you yell for us?"

Kairi did not feel that she needed to let Naminé in on her could-have-been situation. She was worked up enough as it was, no need to get her flying off the handle about how today's people are so sick. The redhead's ears needed a rest anyway.

"I'm sorry Nami, I don't know what I was thinking." Kairi could feel herself getting lost in her scarring recent memories. Her voice lowered itself to almost a whisper. "I wasn't thinking at all, actually. I just felt like I was going to pass out, or be sick, and I just couldn't... _think_."

She could see Naminé's eyes widen in horror, but her own immediately flickered past them and again landed on Riku's solitary figure. He shifted uncomfortably on his feet, and he seemed to shoot her a message with his poignant, but at the same time detached, look: He was beating himself over what had happened to her. He hadn't been able to stop it until after she was already_ scarred for life._

"Riku! Go to Kairi's house and grab her some new clothes! She can't go walking around in your shirt!"

Glad for something to do rather than to sit around wallowing in what he could've done, the teen turned from the two girls and left the apartment, too lost in his thoughts to say anything in response. Kairi knew simply from that look.

As soon as Riku had left the room, Naminé again turned to her friend.

"Kairi, I know Riku told me his side of the story, but what happened before he got there? How did you get into this mess?"

Kairi was saved from even having to open her mouth when Naminé's phone rang, and so she brought her knees to her chin instead to listen to the conversation.

The incoherent jumble of frustrated noise strained from the earpiece, and Kairi had to lean in further towards Naminé when the shocked expression appeared on her face. After what seemed like hours, Naminé finally closed the phone as slowly as humanly possible, in order to obtain dramatic effect, as far as Kairi was concerned.

"Selphie was just in a car accident. We have to go pick her up at the hospital."

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Riku couldn't help but kick himself. Pulling up into Kairi's driveway he smashed his head into his steering wheel several times while turning off the car to try and snap some sense into himself. It wasn't working.

As he made his way toward the front door and rang the doorbell, he peered in to make sure no one was there. He did not want to be explaining to Kairi's father why he was there and Kairi wasn't. Oh, he would kill him.

After waiting a few more moments, Riku cautiously turned the knob and walked into the large foyer, where he hung his coat along the wall like he always had. Making his way up the stairs, he ran his hands over the polished, worn wood of the mahogany banister, which he remembered sliding down in days past. He loved this house.

He made the quick walk from the landing to Kairi's room, and there Riku paused before it. He'd never been into her room without her before, and he felt as though this was a huge invasion of privacy. Kairi didn't need anyone _invading _in on anything else of hers. She did, however, need a change of clothes, according to Naminé. And since he was just the man for the job, Riku decided it would be okay to step into her room.

It was just as pink as he had remembered it. Frilly pillows lined the neatened bedspread and stuffed animals adorned the shelving. Riku hadn't felt this much of a threat to his masculinity in quite some time.

Trying to ignore these flamboyant bursts of color, he spotted Kairi's dresser on the far wall, and approached cautiously, his conscience nagging on him the entire time. _I can't go through her clothes! This is wrong, she'd kill me if she was thinking clearly. _His thoughts snapped elsewhere. _Wait, she needs new underwear and a bra, too, right?_

Now throwing caution to the wind, Riku tore open the top drawer and realized, to his slight disappointment, that it held Kairi's shirts. Pulling out a simple green t-shirt, he quickly closed the drawer and tried for the next one. _Pants! Damn..._ Riku quickly grabbed a pair of jean shorts and dropped them on the newly forming pile. On to the next drawer.

_Jackpot. _Riku couldn't imagine how he could manage to be so perverted at a time like this, but pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind as soon as he pushed his hand through the drawer. His hand hadn't hit silk, cotton or even lace, but plastic. Pushing several bras aside, he pulled out the wrinkled picture that lay underneath them and unfolded it. It was a picture of Sora, Kairi and him. Sora, however, had been bent out of the picture.

Riku flapped the loose folded portion of the photograph to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. No, he was sure of it now. The picture was of the three friends with their arms around each other from a few years back, with Kairi in the middle, and a boy on each side, faces squished against hers.Riku again swung the loose end of the picture that held Sora's face away, so the he could see Kairi and his own face smiling, together.

_Why would Kairi want the picture of just me and her? And why would Kairi put the picture in her underwear drawer?!?_

Riku stepped back for a moment as he dropped the picture to the floor, eyes wide. After doing yet another double take, he bent down to pick it up and slid it back underneath the silk from whence it came. But not before he let his hand glide and linger unnecessarily longer over the articles.

"What the hell do you think you're doing in my daughter's underwear drawer?"

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Haha, two cliffies! Sorry if it's evil, but I just had to. :D Yeah, other than serving as a cliffy set up, this chapter was kinda pointless, as most of my chapters are anyway, but I don't like this one. Honestly, I don't know when my next chapter will be up :( Sorry, but I can't keep promises, because I'm a procrastinator, and when something doesn't _need_ to be done it takes me a very long time to get around to it. I'll try to get it done fast, but I can't really tell this far ahead, as I haven't started my next chapter :/ R&R though, please, as it does make me update faster!

SimplenSweet


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